Leatherwork - Saddle Fender

[BrokenolMarine]

My daughter was up for Christmas, the week after Christmas and dropped a project on me. Seems a friend of hers had a favorite saddle that she had worn out the fenders on. Now, I'm not a horse person, but I do make some stuff out of leather, as some of you know. Belts, holsters, knife sheaths... so she brought the fenders up to me. Seems that Saddles have fenders... they hang off the side of the saddle and the stirrup straps are attached to them. This pair was worn pretty badly.

03 old fender.jpg (536.32 KiB) Viewed 40 times

The other side was worn OUT. It had broken.

09 Second fender broken.jpg (501.45 KiB) Viewed 40 times

Her friend knew she can order them online fairly cheaply, but they would be lower quality leather, and machine cut and roll tooled. The roller tooling didn't bother her, as she didn't actually WANT the basketweave on the new fenders. Riding in shorts in the 115 degree Oklahoma summers, the basketweave tooling had been eating up her legs for years.

So she wanted to have the Fenders remade to match the old shape and size, and maybe a cool border, or edging, but NO heavy tooling. And, rather than some high end saddle maker with a year long waiting list and prices to match, her friend's dad who knew his way around the leather, sorta. Even though I had never done saddles. Meh, I'll push myself and give it a shot. I had to order the heavy leather, heavy rivets, and the tool to set them.

Then I had to rearrange my shop a tad to make the room to work larger projects... in leather.... I started with the shop looking like it always did...

01 the shop.jpg (529.49 KiB) Viewed 40 times

I cleaned off the off side finishing bench of the bench top drill press, oscillating sander, and belt sander used to shape the knives, for now. They went onto the woodworking bench. Then cleaned both the benchtops. The finishing benchtop and the cutting benchtop.

02 rearranged.jpg (501.35 KiB) Viewed 40 times

Ready to start the next step....

[BrokenolMarine]

The next step would be to Johnny Five the Fenders. "Awww, Disassemble."

Yup, It all has to come apart, the hardware is reusable, and unless I slip removing the rivets, the stirrup straps will get reused. The rest is too beat up and worn.

The Fenders themselves you have seen, but drilling the rivets to remove the various straps will have to go slow and steady. Hammer, punch, Dental Extraction Pliers made for pulling teeth work great on rivets.


After about two hours of careful work, we have pieces and parts. I have one side all disassembled.

11 Disassembled.jpg (712.79 KiB) Viewed 38 times

I'll leave the one side fully assembled until the project is completed, to use as a reference for the build, at least until I need the hardware and the stirrup strap. The one belly strap will need a D ring added. This will be a PITA as I'll have to cut back the stitching to remove the rivet, replace the D-Ring, and restitch by hand the area cut back. This is a lined belly band.

07 D ring.jpg (486.45 KiB) Viewed 38 times

08 Dring Back.jpg (409.13 KiB) Viewed 38 times

Slow and steady will get the job done. Stick around for the ride if you like. (pun intended.) It will be a learning experience for me. I will be learning as I go along, or... it will go as smooth as if I was building a giant holster.

[Hatchdog]

There you go again BOM, just some horsing around.

Fun project and it will again be enjoyable to ride along…..yes like you, pun intended.

[BrokenolMarine]

Back out today to begin the layout of the leather for cutting out the main parts of the project. Sadly I discovered that I will have to go ahead and disassemble the second solid fender assembly in order to use it as the template as I have planned. It's too twisted as it stands now, and the hardware is "In the Way" as it is now.

Step one is to punch the rivets with the centering punch prior to drilling so that the Stirrup Strap isn't damaged, and the drill doesn't tear up the Fender making it unusable as a template. otherwise, I could CUT out the hardware and toss the rest. That would be LOTS easier.

12 punched.jpg (507.01 KiB) Viewed 12 times

Carefully, I drilled out the rivets and disassembled the piece. Next, I soaked the twisted portions well, then using a cutting board and some scrap wood, I clamped the twisted pieces FLAT and left them to dry. NOT as easy as it sounds with only two hands in the mix. I got 'er done. I'll leave it for several hours then check it. If need be, I'll re-wet the leather and put it back in the clamps, then leave it overnight to flatten as much as possible. THIS will be my template. I want it as close as I can get so I don't have to "Fake it to Make it."

13 Compressed.jpg (599.25 KiB) Viewed 12 times

So MUCH more to come.

[BrokenolMarine]

Almost forgot, a long view of the Fender in the clamp. You can see why it might have been fun to try and clamp something that kept trying to twist, with just two hands. Hold 'er flat, position to board, work the clamps... tighten...

14 long view clamped.jpg (554.02 KiB) Viewed 12 times